Introduction

Following the passing of the Health and Social Care Act last month, 38 Degrees members voted overwhelmingly to carry on campaigning to protect our NHS. This post sets out some specific options for what we could do next.

The options proposed here are based on over 50,000 suggestions made by 38 Degrees members, which the office team have read through and collated. They are also informed by suggestions made by a range of experts, from health academics, to people working in the NHS, and lawyers.

It’s 38 Degrees members who will take the actions and chip in to make these options work, so it’s crucial that 38 Degrees members vote together to decide what we do. In the next week we’ll all have the chance to vote on which tactics we most want to take forward.

The purpose of this blog post is to set out a draft list of the options, before they are finalised and put to the vote – to give 38 Degrees members and experts the chance to help refine them before voting starts.

Please post your comments below this blog.

Top-level assumptions

First, here are some top-level assumptions that have been made in proposing this list of options:

- The Health and Social Care Act has set in place a framework that pushes the NHS towards fragmentation and privatisation. But with the right campaigning, we could slow the pace of these changes or even change their direction.

- Now that the Act has been passed, much of the focus will need to be local. We’ll need to focus on local decision-makers who are now tasked with implementing the new NHS structure, and use local issues to create national pressure.

- The next general election will be a major milestone. It’s too early to say what we’ll need to do then, but the commitments of candidates standing for election, and of course who wins, could have a big influence on the future of the NHS. If we can influence implementation of the changes now and keep the NHS on the agenda, we can lay the foundations for it being a big issue come election time.

- 38 Degrees can’t save the NHS on its own! We need to work alongside a whole range of other organisations working on the NHS, and we’ll rely on advice and intelligence from a range of experts. We should continue to play a role in bringing different groups together and encouraging networking, and we’ll need to explore ways in which we could help this happen more effectively – including devoting more 38 Degrees staff time to coordination and networking.

List of options

Below is the draft list of possible tactics:

Options with a local focus

1.Campaign to push local Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) to adopt pro-NHS policies

CCGs are the important new bodies led by GPs who have now been given responsibility for spending huge amounts of NHS money, and will be taking important decisions about the future of our healthcare. Together we could pressure them to steer clear of privatisation and safeguard the NHS:

- Produce template policies, checked by lawyers, which could be adopted by CCGs to make NHS and not-for-profit providers their preferred options for all contracts

- Organised local campaigns to encourage CCGs to do the right thing – with leafleting, petitions, local events etc

- Provide networking and support to pro-NHS CCGs if they come under pressure from the government or private companies

2. Campaign against local market failures, cuts and privatisation caused by the Health and Social Care Act

If and when things start to go wrong in a local area, we could help sound the alarm and call for a change of approach to solve the problems. We could:

- Host and promote local petitions, demonstrations, and e-mail actions against local problems

- Provide resources and networking to local campaigners and 38 Degrees members engaged in these campaigns

- Bring local problems to national attention, and put pressure on the government to fix them

3. Develop local networks of concerned citizens who can act as a people powered NHS watchdog

By joining and working with existing local mechanisms, we can influence how healthcare is handled. Some ways would be to:

- Support 38 Degrees members to join local HealthWatch boards, local Health and Wellbeing Boards, Foundation Trust boards and GP Patient Participation Groups

- Provide training and support to members of local health groups, such as training events, monthly phone conference calls with experts, online briefings

- Offer support for people when they expose dodgy practices and whistleblow

- Look out for key moments and organise local campaigns to ensure decisions about the NHS go in the right direction, for example, decisions about whether or not to lift the limits on how much private work can be done by an NHS hospital

Options with a national focus

4. Build a national picture of market failures, cuts and privatisation

If we draw together local information, this could become a powerful national campaigning tool and keep the spotlight on the national impact of the NHS changes. Together we could:

- Organise an online database to map and aggregate problems within the NHS

- Offer a package of support to prospective whistleblowers exposing local problems

- Pay for investigators to look into Freedom of Information requests, undercover investigations and media monitoring

- Train 38 Degrees members to conduct local investigative and watchdog work and feed this back so it can be aggregated nationally

5. Act as a deterrent to private companies encroaching on the NHS

Private healthcare companies will tempted to aggressively pursue NHS contracts, e.g. by wining, dining and hosting events for CCGs or by using expensive lawyers to demand they are awarded contracts. To protect the role of our NHS, we could:

- Lift the lid on health corporation sponsorship of NHS events/conferences or public events like the London marathon

- Organise protests and stunts at shareholder events and outside offices of senior staff

- Support NHS bodies if private companies attack them e.g. by using competition law

- Use undercover investigation or Yes Men style stunts to expose dodgy dealings and conflicts of interest

6. Make the NHS an issue in elections from by-elections to city mayoral elections

Politicians need to take a stand and pledge a better future for our NHS. To make this happen, we could:

- Challenge local candidates to say what they will do to protect the NHS

- Name and shame candidates who broken election promises on healthcare

- Support pro-NHS candidates in elections

7. Support laid off NHS staff to set up alternatives to expensive management consultancies and multinational corporations

Big private companies don’t have to be the only solution as NHS services are broken up and NHS staff are laid off. We could tried to help the people being forced out of the NHS to setup alternatives to private sector involvement. To do this we could:

- Support staff being laid off to set up their own co-ops or mutual service providers as an alternative to multinationals

- Put pressure on CC keys to consider not-for-profit alternatives to management consultants and multinational corporations

Top line questions and next steps

This blog post aims to set out the list of options for comment before 38 Degrees members vote on the final list of options in a few days time. The more comments and suggestions we get at this draft stage the better – so the poll and options are as good as they can be.

Key questions:

- Are at the top level assumptions the right ones?

- Are there any options for tactics missing?

- Do the ones here look right?

- Are these options for tactics realistic?

- Are there any particular experts or organisations we should be talking to about any of these ideas

- Are there any dates, events or political developments coming up that we should be aware of?

Over the next few days the 38 Degrees office team will read the comments on this blog and continue speaking to experts who will also have key feedback and input. The voting will start as soon as this round of feedback has been incorporated.

Please post your comments below.

Photograph by 38 Degrees

A few hours ago the Government published their latest amendments to Andrew Lansley’s NHS Bill. These changes could be fantastic news – or just clever spin designed to pull wool over the eyes of those that want to protect our NHS.

Over the next few days our lawyers are going to look at the Government’s proposed changes line by line to find out what improvements, if any, have been made.

Once the facts are clear the 38 Degrees office team will create a list of things we could do together next. The list will be emailed as a poll for members to vote on or add new suggestions. It looks like we’ll be ready to launch that poll early next week.

Any thoughts on what we should do next? Please do share any ideas in the comment box below.

Update: Thousands of us have written to our MPs. You can share what your MP replied, and see what other 38 Degrees members have recieved back from their MPs here: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/nhs-what-your-mp-said

We’ve just sent out an email about Andrew Lansley’s damaging plans for the NHS. David Cameron & Nick Clegg are having crunch meetings soon to discuss the future of our health service. We have to act now: if we all tell our MPs that we demand a rethink of the plans, it will send a powerful message to Lansley, Cameron and Clegg. Can you add your voice? Use this link to write to your MP: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/NHS-email-MP

When you get a reply from your MP, please upload it here: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/nhs-what-your-mp-said. You can also view responses from other 38 Degrees members’ MPs.

Here’s the text of the email we just sent out:

Dear friend,

Is it starting to work? Yesterday’s Times newspaper reported that Cameron and Clegg are starting to worry about the huge public opposition to the NHS plans. It’s a clear sign that public pressure can save the NHS.

The Times said that David Cameron and Nick Clegg will sit down “in the next week or two” to “plan the way ahead”. [1] That means the future of the NHS is on a knife edge. They could decide to carry on forcing the changes through. Or they could decide to stop. We need to increase our pressure now, before these critical meetings.

If MPs receive a flood of emails ahead of the crunch meetings, it could tip the balance and persuade the government to back off. Can you email your MP now?

Take two minutes to tell your MP to take our message to Cameron and Clegg: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/NHS-email-MP

We need Clegg and Cameron to be hearing from hundreds of MPs all giving them the same message: “my voters don’t want these changes to the NHS”. They’ll be left in no doubt about how many of us don’t want the plans to go ahead.

250,000 of us have already signed the save the NHS petition. We know that we’re getting people’s attention. But now we need to make sure that every MP sees just how many of their own voters are against these dangerous plans for the NHS.

Tell your MP we don’t want the government to ruin the NHS: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/NHS-email-MP

So many different groups are worried about Andrew Lansley’s plans for the NHS. Doctors, nurses, patient groups, health charities, academics, unions, and even a growing number of Lib Dem and Conservative politicians. Now we need to tell every MP that it’s time for the government to start listening.

We know that shining a spotlight on MPs can transform things. When thousands of us emailed our MPs about the forests sell-off vote, their support for the plan started to melt away. Just last week, we heard that the government had changed its mind about protecting victims of human trafficking, after thousands of 38 Degrees members got their MPs to raise their concerns. Now, let’s do the same for the NHS by emailing our MPs ahead of this key meeting.

Turn up the heat on your MP, send them an email and ask them to take our message to Cameron and Clegg: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/NHS-email-MP

Thanks for being involved,
Johnny, Hannah, David and the 38 Degrees team

PS: Over the last couple of weeks, local 38 Degrees members delivered copies of our petition – nearly a quarter of a million strong – to key MPs on the health committee. But now we need to make sure every MP hears our message and passes it on to Cameron and Clegg. So please email yours now: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/NHS-email-MP

NOTES:
[1] You can read about the Times article here: http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/03/lansley-reforms-nhs-cameron. The article itself is behind the Times paywall, here: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/health/news/article2967342.ece

On Friday 15 October, Leeds 38 Degrees Volunteer Stephen, and Eleanor from the London office headed to the Department for Transport to hand in our petition to Philip Hammond and Danny Alexander, backing the Leeds Trolleybus.

Photograph by 38 Degrees

Almost 1,000 of us have now signed the petition – pushing the government to commit funding for the trolleybus. 100s of us have described how the trolleybus would reduce congestion, generate new jobs and boost the economy, improve local air quality – and just make getting around easier.

This has been combined with over 60 letters to Leeds MPs backing the trolleybus. We hope that these letters and the petition give both ministers some serious food for thought.

It looks like we should get a decision on whether or not the trolleybus will go ahead on the 20^th, but the Spending Review may not go down to that level of detail….we may have to wait a little longer.

Health Minister Andrew Lansley: have private healthcare lobbyists been helping him write the NHS Whitepaper?

38 degrees teamed up with Spinwatch last year to demand tougher rules on lobbying – a hugely successful campaign which had a huge breakthrough back in May when government agreed to tougher rules to ban secret lobbying. They’re yet to implement these – it is likely we’ll need to put further pressure on next year.

Now Spinwatch have started looking into the links between the health minister, Andrew Lansley, and private health companies who would stand to gain from his proposals to change the NHS.

Tens of thousands of 38 Degrees members emailed their MPs after the Conservative Minister, Jeremy Hunt, launched an attack on the BBC by announcing plans to cut the licence fee in 2012.

38 Degrees members have been adding their MPs’ replies to this page on our website, and we’ve now got replies from most MPs. Quite a few MPs have also sent their constituents a reply they received from the Culture Minister, Ed Vaizey, after writing to him about the BBC.

Here’s the letter the Minister, Ed Vaizey has been sending to MPs:

George Osborne

We’ve got just a few days to convince George Osborne not to go back on his plan to increase Capital Gains Tax, so that Britain’s wealthiest people don’t end up paying less tax than everyone else. Increasing the tax in line with income tax levels formed part of the coalition agreement between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

But now it looks like the government is wavering under pressure from Conservative MPs and the right-wing media. Baroness Noakes, a Tory Peer, told the chancellor that a rise in Capital Gains Tax has “no popular support”. We’re working with One Society to build  petition with thousands of our names, to convince George Osborne that he’s wrong and give him the final push he needs to commit to the tax in his Emergency Budget. Sign the petition here http://www.38degrees.org.uk/capital-gains-tax

David Cameron has warned that Britain’s “whole way of life” will be disrupted for decades by “painful” cuts. Spending cuts are always worst for the poorest and most vulnerable people. But if the richest people continue to avoid paying a proper share of taxes, it’s a double injustice. Now is the right time to make sure that everyone shares the burden.

Click here to sign the petition, to help make our tax system fairer:  and ask George Osborne to stand firm on the promise to bring Capital Gains Tax in line with income tax.

The new government wants to make it easier for schools to become academies. Tell your MP to make sure that new rules don’t mean local communities have no voice when it comes to turning schools into academies

Academies work differently to other schools. They aren’t overseen by local councils and their sponsors can include big businesses, religious organisations, charities or universities, who get a say on which subjects are taught, and how. Sponsors also get everything the school owns, including its land and buildings. Academy governors aren’t elected and once a school becomes an Academy, there is no guaranteed way to go back.

These are big changes and the pupils, parents and teachers at a school should get a chance to have a say on whether their school decides to become an Academy. At the moment, the government is proposing new rules in the Academies Act, which would mean that governors at a school could make the decision without asking anyone else involved with the school. Current plans would mean the people whose lives will be most affected by their school changing into an academy wouldn’t have any way to make their voices heard.

Write to your MP in 2 minutes, telling them to support a better Academies Bill with proper consultation with the whole school community and ask them to sign the Early Day Motion.